Two other early Islamic historians demand special
note. The work of al-Baladhuri complements that of al-
Tabari. Born in Persia, Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri
lived and worked in Baghdad, where he died in 892. His
Kitab Futuh al-Buldan (Book of the Conquests of Lands)
has been translated by Philip Hitti and Francis C.
Murgotten as The Origins of the Islamic State (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1916–24). His Ansab al-
Ashraf (Lineage of the Nobles), which covers the reigns
of the early caliphs and includes thousands of capsule
biographies, is not yet available in English translation.
Muhammad ibn Sa’d (spelled “Saad” in this book) was
one of the earliest compilers of biographies of major
ɹgures in early Islam, and his work proved a major
source for later historians, including al-Tabari. Born in
Basra in 764, he lived in Baghdad, where he died in 845.
Abridged selections from two Volumes of his nine-
Volume collection Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Great Book
of Generations) can be found in The Women of Madina,
tr. Aisha Bewley (London: Ta-Ha Publishers, 1995) and
The Men of Madina, tr. Aisha Bewley (London: Ta-Ha
Publishers, 1997).
I have worked with three English versions of the
Quran (I use the word “version” rather than
“translation” since a basic tenet of Islam is that the
Quran as the word of God cannot be translated, only